Nanny For Hire
by Rainhealsme
Summary: That's me, the nanny. I'm Katrina. My parents would tell me my name's special. It means pure and chaste, but I'm far from it. The only thing that I am is hardworking so I can support my son. I was unemployed, until the day I found a job as a nanny for a group of quadruplets. It's not like I didn't expect children, what I didn't expect was falling for their older brother. [JessexOC]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** So here it is—my first GX story that has absolutely nothing to do with a crossover. Mainly this will be a romance story between Jesse and my OC, Katrina Redbird. It's been a while since I've done anything like this. In fact, the last time I wrote a story between a canon character and one of OCs, I ended up writing myself into an enormous plot-hole, and discontinuing the story. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue this one.

**Disclaimer:** Again, if I owned GX or any other anime, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction now would I?

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><p><em>~Fairyride~<em>_Chapter One~_

Monday morning I awoke up feeling somewhat rested. It isn't often that I sleep that well, not even weekends. It's most likely because my son Katori has kept me up all night long. That and I've suffered from an incisive high blood pressure issue. To simply put it, I'm totally and completely stressed out. Of course being stressed out is unhealthy and my mother said I should probably just calm down and smell the roses. But then again, I hate roses, so I never really followed through with that tag line.

As usual, I woke up and I did what I did every day. For me, my days are planned out and activities are measured in components. Why? Because it helps me keep a steady schedule. Components do not represent hours, because hours are much just too overwhelming for me to handle. I'm already stressed out enough as it is, so instead, components represent half an hour.

Brushing teeth takes one component, getting ready for the day is one component, eating breakfast; two components, feeding, changing, and dressing Katori; two more components. My schedule pretty much goes on like that, and some activities may last longer than the others. But all in all, my days are full and busy, simply no time for anything else. I am a single parent, and I still live at home. But, that's only because I have yet to find a place of my own, a decent job, and my parents worry.

After I got pregnant during the fall season last year, my parents had come to the conclusion that they would do the decision making from now on. I did not want to be a single mother at nineteen; I've always wanted to be a music teacher. Why? Let's just say that I don't five years of piano lessons to go to waste.

So yes, I sat up in bed that morning and rubbed my tired eyes, allowing them adjust to the blinding light that flooded through my bedroom window. As usual, the damn sun, was trying to blinding me as I'm just getting up. I tried moving slowly from bed seeing as my head was already throbbing in pain. Stupid migraine… The last thing I need was a headache for the day. I remembered that my father had some painkillers, so maybe I should go steal some of them so that I can have a good day today.

Trying to look past a simple migraine, I thought to myself; maybe there's more for me in the future...maybe, just maybe, something good will happen for once. I had a good night's sleep...so maybe this was God saying "Guess what, Katrina? Today, you're going to have a great day".

To tell the truth, I have no idea.

However, if it did, I'd be very pleased and walk through the streets of the city with a jump in my step, a goofy smile on my face, Katori in my arms, and of course the migraine I woke up with this morning. Aside from the migraine, that would just be lovely, now wouldn't it?

Sighing, I finally got out of bed with my eyes still closed. I wanted to return to my cozy bed sheets and fall asleep once more, but that's mess with my daily routine, and that's against my personal policy. Plus, we're out of ramen and chocolate syrup, and that's the only thing that keeps me going. Ramen and chocolate syrup...weird combination right? But hey; don't knock it to you try it.

From here, I got up, my room completely and utterly in shambles. The walls have been their same maroon color since I was fifteen, and the floor was hard and woodened. My furniture was single a wardrobe, an end table, a vanity, and a twin sized bed. All of this was the same red colored wood. Of course I had a closet for hanging things up, and finally I had a tall lamp with a burned out bulb. With a restless infant on my hands, I don't even have to change a light bulb.

Walking from my room, I ended up stepping into the hallway. The hallway had pictures of my family, my mom, dad, Katori and I, hanging all over the walls in. There's also a small table with a single cut sunflower flower vase on it.

I walked into the bathroom, just as tired as the moment I awoke. I had remembered the layout of my own home, for I've been doing the same thing every day for the past sixteen years on my own. When I arrived, the cool tile met my feet causing me to shiver slightly. I looked into the mirror to see my light silver colored hair, and my caramel-colored skin. And, I saw the same, boring topaz eyes that I saw single every day. I had tried dozen new hair styles, but none of them seemed to have fit. Perhaps I should consider contacts or a new wardrobe?

I parted my hair, and styled it into two lazily flowing pig tails. After styling my hair, I went on to washing my face, splashing it with warm first, and then cold water. I instantly awoke from my morning daze. Next, I moved on to brushing my teeth, making sure to cover each and every section of my mouth with the cleansing foam of the toothpaste. Last, I gurgled some mint flavored mouthwash, spat it out, and went back to my room to get ready for whatever the day had in store for me.

I opened my closet and pulled out a light blue shirt, and a pair of knee-length white Khaki pants. I looked as though I was just going to lounge around the house all day. However that wasn't the case; I was going to lounge around the citytoday, looking for an affordable apartment, and a job with flexible hours. That is, after I eat my bowel of frosted flakes cereal, like I do **every** morning. Then, I pulled on some house shoes, since my flat shoes were in the kitchen, and then began to make my way downstairs into the kitchen after straightening up my room just a bit.

I knew my parents were up, the smell of coffee waivered throughout the house. Sure enough, when I arrived down stairs, my parents were up, and Katori was sitting in his highchair with his Sippy-cup. My mother had changed him, and dressed him in a light t-shirt with a picture of a dinosaur on the front. I walked over to my son, and ruffled his hair playfully. Katori smiled, and giggled, completely forgetting about his cup of juice. Katori is currently six months old. He has caramel-colored skin like me, and dark brown hair and eyes just like his father, whoever the bastard was.

Sitting beside Katori was my father asked, or rather grunted. "So, what are you planning to do today?" He was reading the paper, already dressed in his suit for work.

"Same old," I answered, wiping Katori's face before returning to my cereal. It's not that I wanted to live my entire life with my parents. It's just Katori tends to be clingy, and I'd hate to leave him knowing that he wasn't happy for too long.

After stirring her coffee a little more, my mother sat down to join us. The one thing I noticed was that she was already wearing her makeup and jewelry. My mother is an utter beauty queen, and most likely the reason why Katori exists. Like every other girl in the world, I wanted to be just like my mother. She taught me everything she knew; what styles and brands to wear, how to apply makeup, and how to give guys the look when they walked passed. Looking back on it now, I can't believe how stupid I was, ending up a single mother even before I had the chance to finish college.

"Good morning Katrina," said she with a smile, and I flinched. I've always hate my name. It's so...**feminine**. I'm ashamed to be even called "Katrina".

I just smiled at her. Eating the last bits of my breakfast, I grabbed Katori, and with my tiny check list in hand the two of us headed towards my car. But not before saying goodbye to my parents. My car is a navy blue Volkswagen New Beetle. Since I quit my job, I've currently been making payments from my savings. I strapped Katori into his car seat, and sat his cup and a stuff toy making sure that I would be able to drive in peace. Sitting down behind the wheel, I noticed that the first thing on my list was to find an affordable apartment.

_~Fairyride~_

"I can only go as low as two hundred a month," The clerk at the front desk said. "Will you be able to keep up the payments monthly?" she asked me.

I really wasn't listening to her. At the same time, I was trying to juggle my giggling son in my arms. "Hush, Katori," I told him, but of course, he didn't listen.

"Well, anyway, we have decent sizes," The woman at the desk continued, her eyes darting from Katori to myself occasionally. "Would you like to see our cheapest?"

I nodded my head, and the woman turned the monitor of her computer around. The image displayed was that of the cheapest apartment. It didn't look bad...it had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and the floor was a soft white carpet for Katori to play on. The building was also across the street from a coffee shop and up the street from parents, which I liked.

"I'll take it," I said decisively.

The woman held out hand. "I.D. please," she said, and silently cursed her.

By now, I should be used to people thinking I'm young because of my height. But then again, I didn't care. Katori and I finally had a place to call our own, and that's all that mattered.

After all the formalities were through, I sat Katori down on the carpet, and dropped my bag beside him. The apartment was quite dusty, causing Katori to let a sneeze, and small smile tugged at my lips. Before Katori and I could even think about living here, the place had to be cleaned. I'd leave Katori with my parents while I cleaned and furnished the place.

Before heading home, there was but one last stop; the grocery store. But before then, I noticed that there was a sign in the window of a nearby restaurant. I was already exhausted, from scouting out apartment, but I couldn't let this one slip by. Restaurants, particularly sit-down ones, were where I had the best luck. My boss couldn't breathe down my neck and the pay was usually decent.

Katori and I entered the restaurant, and waited at the counter. A waitress who was serving a group of business men walked passed me. The sheer thing that I noticed was her short skirt, and the attention she was receiving from the men. Instantly, I felt uncomfortable. I couldn't afford to attract that sort of attention, not anymore. Or until Katori was eighteen. Deciding that I should just leave, I exited the diner, and headed towards the grocery store.

I loathe shopping with Katori. Why? Because he attracted attention—especially in crowed areas. I've noticed that a majority of the dirty looks come from married woman and younger teens. Walking by me with their noses high, I knew what they were thinking; _whore_.

Ignoring the stares, I was just entering the checkout counter, when Katori spotted a display of candy. Being six months, Katori knew what was in the colorful packaging, and wanted it for himself.

"Not now, Katori." I told him. "Maybe next time."

Completely ignoring me, Katori made a whiny noises he, latched onto a box and spilled its contents over the store's floor. I knew even more people were looking at us, but I had no choice but to drop to my knees and clean up the mess.

"What a joke," I heard one of the woman whisper to her fatter, and even snootier looking friend. "She can't even control her own child..."

The fatter woman simply huffed, and pushed her loaded cart of food into the checkout counter beside us.

"Okay Katori," I stood up, handing up him a king sized Hershey bar. He giggled in delight, grabbing it. "You win."

I didn't waste any time making my purchases, and heading back to apartment which was just a few blocks away. And as fate would have it, my paper bag broke just before I reached my car.

Just my luck...

"Shit!" I cursed, as cans of food rolled away. The ones that rolled into the busy street were the last thing on my mind. Luckily, a few had rolled under the car, and some of the bruised fruit was still within my reach.

Katori, who was in my arms started to cry from my sudden outburst, and making this whole situation even more difficult. I sat the bags of food down, and tried rocking him.

"Shh," I said. "Not so loud. Please stop crying..."

Aware of the numerous stares we were getting from the community college across the street, I was on the verge of pulling every single strain of my hair. That is, until a voice interrupted.

"Uh, do you need any help?"

I looked up to see a boy with spiky teal hair, and emerald colored eyes. He was wearing a black shirt, a pair of jeans, sneakers, and jacket with the local college's logo on the back. He spoke in thick southern accent, and I can tell we were about the same age.

"Here," I shoved Katori into the boy's arms without thinking. "You hold him."

"Oh, uh, sure..." Surprised, the boy just looked at Katori, who stopped crying upon being handed over, as if he were an atomic bomb at first, but eventually held him as I collected the last of our food.

"Dammit!" I said. "Why do these things always happen to me?"

Katori began to sniffle, and eventually wail again as I chased another rolling can. I was about to yell at him until the teal haired boy started to play with him by holding into the air, and pretending that he was flying.

Oh that was **so** unfair.

The last time Katori and I played that game, I ended up with baby vomit all over my best sun dresses.

I quickly collected the last of the fruit, dropped them into a sturdier bag, and received Katori from the blue-haired stranger.

"Thanks," I muttered, and Katori frowned, reaching his little arms out to the boy.

"No problem," The boy said in that southern accent of his, adjusting the strap of his backpack.

There was pause before anyone said anything else. Katori even began to fall asleep amongst the silence.

"I haven't seen you around campus before," he said. "You're not from around here are, ya?"

I shook my head, and held Katori closer to my body. "Fate had something else in store for me..."

The boy's eyes darted from Katori to me, and then he smiled. "So, then you've had experience with children, right?"

I shrugged. "Well, I guess you say that but..."

"Good!" He cut me off jotting down something on a piece of notebook paper, and then sticking the paper into my groceries. "You'll be perfect for the job."

I blinked.

Job? Just what was he talking about?

Before I even had the chance to ask him, he walked off onto the college campus, leaving Katori and I to drive home. Once we reached the car, I fumbled with my keys, but eventually found the one that opened the door, and sat Katori down in his car seat first, and then sat behind the wheel. Here, I reached into the bag, and pulled out the note, and called the written number using my worn-out cell phone.

"Yes?" A woman answered from the other line. "May I help you?"

"I was calling about an available position," I said softly, trying not to disturb Katori.

"Let's see..." I heard the clicking of computer keys before the woman answered back. "As of now, the Andersons are currently in need of a temporary nanny for this month. Are you interested?"

I blinked again.

A nanny? How am I supposed to take care of someone else's kids when I can barely support my own? Taking job meant that I would have to deal with a bunch of brats who were even whinier than Katori…I really should just hang up the phone, but I could always use the money. My savings may not last much longer.

"Miss...?" The woman on the other line was beginning to wonder if I was still there.

"Oh, uh, sure." I answered.

"Alright," The sound of clicking computer keys was heard again. "And your name is...?"

"Katrina," I said. "Katrina Redbird."

"Alright," The woman replied. "I've schedule you to be interviewed this Thursday if that is fine."

"Okay," And with that, I closed my phone, leaning back in the driver's seat.

Me, a nanny.

Heh…that was the last thing I would expect. **This** was defiantly going to be the longest month of my life.

But then again, I was always a risk-taker. And, I have Katori to prove it.

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><p><strong>AN: **Well, that's pretty much it for chapter one. This idea came to me randomly while I was typing up a new chapter for Toriyama Academy, and babysitting my nephew, who is no older than Katori. Since I don't have a kid(I consider my dogs to my children), I tried basing Katori off my brother's kid. I'll try to update as often as I can, but this more a side project as of now since I mainly focus on my Pokéquest and Toriyama.

Thanks for reading, and feedback is always appreciated. ^^


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** First of all, I would like to say thanks to everyone who review, and give a big shout out to CyberChick135 for lending me some her OCs for this story. It really helped me out this chapter. ^^ Since exams are almost over, I'll be able to lazy around my house for a while just typing up new chapters for everyone. As always, express your opinions in a review, and please enjoy the new chapter.

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_~Chapter Two: In which Katrina meets the children of the Anderson clan, and begins her new job as their nanny. ~_

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_Tick... tick…_

An irritating, red clock ticked away on the wall. Normally, a person as ignorant as me wouldn't pay attention to such ridiculous details. But today, I'm so bored that I'd do just about anything to keep myself occupied until Mr. Anderson's assistant was ready to interview me. Now that I think about it, it's strange that I'd do this much just to keep myself entertained, but it's not like anyone's going to care or even notice what I'm doing. And even if anyone did care, it's not like I'm going to stop staring at the clock.

I mean, why should I let anyone tell me what to do? It's against my nature. However, I am the type of person who will get bored very easily, and will strive to keep myself as entertained as I possibly can. Katori was napping with his head in my lap, so I kept myself entertained by staring at the little red clock that was on the wall above the office door; the very door that I was facing. The clock ticked slowly, as though taunting me.

_Tick… tick…_

The clock continued to tick onward, without missing a single beat. What intrigued me the most was the soft ticking that tickled my ears, but after a while, it seemed to get louder and louder, and suddenly I felt my head throb painfully as the wall clock ticked and ticked. The simple sound had suddenly transformed to loud and crashing of sound thunder. Slowly, I felt myself getting nauseous, and it was also suddenly painful to even blink my eyes.

The clock itself simply continued to tick away, ignoring the fact that I was suffering. I covered my eyes with my hands, my head throbbed like mad, and the world around me was seemly spinning. Slowly, my sanity was slipping through the small gaps in between my fingers. I tried pushing the stupid migraine away by rubbing my temples in a circle-like motion, but it only became even more of a nuisance as suddenly I could no longer keep my eyes opened.

I closed my eyes tight, the pain in my head was nearly impossible to ignore as I fumbled through my tote bag clumsily, searching for the red compartment in which held my pain medication. Finally, I had managed to pull out a small, plastic cylinder shaped container which held my pills within its transparent walls.

The compartment was filled with white and red striped pills that rattled against the insides of the container as I made a struggling effort to even open it, my head still continuing to throb painfully as I did so. I managed to open the lid and shake out a couple of pills. I popped them into my mouth and swallowed them both down forcefully. My throat was in agony, but I could care less as of the moment.

I breathe out quietly and I relaxed, the medicine already taking its effect, for the throbbing migraine that I had just a second ago was slowly starting to subside. This wasn't turning out to be a very good start at all, but I decided that I was once again bored, and to continue in the activity that I had been doing before the migraine had interfered—staring at the clock and memorizing all of its intricate features.

So, I gazed at the clock as though I had never seen one in my life. In other words, I looked completely stupid, but it wasn't like I had anything else to do. The one time I needed him to distract me, Katori decided to take a nap. I looked down at him, and brushed his brown locks from his closed eyes. The maids were all throwing me incredulous, curious, and yes, mocking looks. I fought the urge to raise my middle finger at them, but instead, flashed them a naïve, artless smile. Suddenly I had decided that the clock was not as interesting as I thought to keep me entertained. And so, I moved onto a new article to study and memorize by heart. I leaned back in my chair, looking up at the ceiling. I gawked at the bright lights that hung from the ceiling above, the fluorescent light that illuminated from them nearly blinding to the eye.

Pretty soon, I found myself looking down at the expensive marble tiles that covered the floor. They were so close together, that at first glance anyone would think that it were just a plain white floor. However, being as bored as I was I didn't miss a single detail of anything that I saw. I even managed to catch a little crack on a tile a few feet away.

"You are the applicant for the nanny position?" A woman's voice rung in the heart broke the silence.

I turned towards the woman and put on a fake smile. Her piercing red eyes arrested my attention more than any other feature of her more chiseled, grown-up face. She held no emotion in her voice whatsoever, and had shiny black hair styled into a neat bun. She woman wore a sapphire dress suit and black pumps with her outfit.

"That's right," I answered.

The woman nodded slowly, not talking for a short span of time. Finally, she said, "Ah, yes, of course. Well, would you like to take the interview right now?"

"Sure," Picking up Katori, I followed her to the back of the shop into a small office-like room. She motioned for me to sit down on the chair across from her.

"Have you had any jobs before this?" asked the woman, pushed up her glasses and eyeing me, and then Katori curiously.

"Well actually, no." I replied. "I used to babysit for my cousin, and of course I have my son, so I've had experience with children."

Wanting to get into a comfortable position, Katori made whining noises.

"Shh, Katori," I tried rocking him back to sleep.

"So," she paused, looking at us, and then asked, "Do you have any references?"

I nodded, handing her the appropriate papers from my tote, after rocking Katori.

"And do you have a résumé?"

"Yes," I said, nodding slightly for good measure.

"Anyhow, would you like to tell me some things about yourself? Your name, home town? Even though I know this information already, it wouldn't hurt to see if you're going to lie."

I frowned slightly, but began slowly, "My name is Katrina Redbird, and I'm from Osaka… my birthday is on February seventh."

"Oh, an Aquarius. As am I," the woman said, smiling once more.

I smiled a little bit. She noticed that I was running out of things to say and said, "You know, it doesn't have to be official things… do you have any hobbies? Interests?"

"I've been babysitting since I was thirteen," I replied slowly, as she nodded, and looked over a sheet of my papers. "It's basically one of the only things I'm good at."

"I see. Well, I actually don't really need to interview you any further. There were several other applicants, so it may take a few days until you receive a call," she said. "So, be sure to keep your cell phone charged."

"I will," With a nod, I was sent on my way.

I never set out be a nanny, and just like that I was expecting a call for said position. _Perfect. _I'd say I was about three feet from my car when out of nowhere, a red ball rolled and stopped at the tip of toes just as I had strapped Katori into his car seat.

"Looks like we get another point Lenna," A small girl with her light blond hair styled into pig tails and brown eyes smiled and high-fived her twin with a similar hair style.

Soon after, she turned towards a boy who looked no older with her arms crossed smugly. "Well that's two games for us, and none for Jace."

The boy known as Jace looked much like the boy from the grocery store parking lot. He frowned as the girls giggled at him.

"Oh that is so unfair!" he shouted balling up his fists by his side. "I want a rematch!"

"Selim, it's your turn," Lenna said. "So, you have to get the ball."

A young boy with messy mop teal hair looked up from his sketch book and nodded slowly. I had picked up the ball with my free hand just as the small child approached. I grinned at him, handing over the ball, and he smiled back shyly receiving it.

"Hey," I called out to him before he walked off. "Just for future record, I make chocolate chip pancakes in the morning."

Selim's smiled grew wider, and ran towards his siblings. From within my rear-view mirror, I watched as he informed the others about the pancakes. All the children turned to look at me, and I waved, flashing them a friendly smile. Kids will do anything for sweets. And just like that, my work here was done. That day, I left the Anderson's villa with a sense of satisfaction, Katori, and a slight, but ignorable migraine.

_~Fairyride~_

I spent the next few days in total anxiety, waiting for the call. I didn't get much sleep, though I wouldn't have even if I were actually relaxed with my reoccurring headaches. And as an added bonus, I had actually found out why my apartment was as cheap as it was. The clinic down the street had ambulances _constantly _driving by and I was debating whether to actually spend money on some decent curtains. The old beat-up ones that covered the bedroom at the moment let light come through and I was sick of waking up to flashing red and blue lights in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, I got a call for the nanny position I had applied to and was set to work in a week. My savings were running out, so it was a welcome relief. Despite the obvious setbacks, I was quite pleased with how things turned out.

For the remainder of the week, I spent time cleaning up my apartment. As of now I was taking a small break. As I plopped down on the worn-out couch I had purchased, I realized that Katori was going to need a sitter during the day. Of course I couldn't take him to work with me; he'd just distract me. So, stretching and rotating my neck until it cracked, I opened all the kitchen cabinets, until I found an up to date phonebook.

"Okay," I said putting it down on the counter. "Now for some babysitting services…"

I jotted a few numbers and addresses down and was set on calling them. The first woman sounded nice, but admitted that she already had five children that she was looking after.

That wouldn't do...

The second turned out to be sixteen-year-old. Though I was one myself, I would rather not have a teenager looking after my only child. The third was a middle-aged woman with one child of her own who seemed quite happy at the prospect of taking care of Katori since her daughter had left home to attend a college in America. I asked tentatively if the woman was busy at the moment and if I could drop Katori off next week. She excitedly replied that she'd be happy to watch him. However, I wasn't completely sure about leaving Katori so I drove out to her home to properly meet her.

The woman introduced herself as Yuka. She rather taken back by sight of Katori at first, and then seemed to remember her manners and allowed us to enter her home. Her small house was immaculately clean to the point that I was worried how she would react if Katori made a mess. But, after twenty minutes of chatting, and a cup of coffee, I was convinced that Yuka meant well and planned for Katori to be dropped off that following week.

Maybe things were finally starting to turn around for once.

Monday morning, I had Katori dressed and ready to spend the day with his new babysitter who introduced herself as Karen. We were about fifteen minutes away from Karen's home when a new voice message popped up on my phone. At the next red light, I was able to listen to it.

_"Hello? Katrina, this is Yuka. I'm sorry to call you with such late notice but...my husband has just been laid off his job and well... I have to get a real job now. I sorry, but I won't be able to watch Katori. Bye."_

Looks like I spoke too soon.

"Dammit!" Closing my eyes, I allowed my head to fall against the wheel.

Katori looked up from his toy, startled by the noise. What was I going to do now? I couldn't just leave Katori home alone. My parents had lives of their own, as well as jobs, so leaving him there every day would just interfere with their lives.

Suddenly, I felt the urge to punch something—to punch something _hard_. I wanted to break and destroy something, and get rid of all this anger at the world. It was just so unfair how everything was. I was too young to have this much stress in my life—too young to be a mother. There was no way I could leave Katori at the apartment alone. My only other option was to bring him to work with me.

…Okay, during the interview, I spotted one of the younger maids who had disappeared with one of the landscapers into the bathroom for a very _long_ time and Mr. Anderson's assistant never said a word. So, I figured bringing Katori in couldn't be as bad as all that.

"Katori," I peered back at him using the rearview mirror. He was sporting a red t-shirt, tiny sneakers, and a pair of soft blue jeans. "Guess what? You get to go to work with me today."

Katori merely smiled back at me and continued to play with his stuffed Snoopy toy. Sometimes I wonder if he would be better off living with someone else…

In about thirty minutes, I had arrived at the same villa in a secluded country area as before, and parked as close as I could to entrance in the same spot where I had the day I came for the interview. The villa itself was overwhelming, and every twist and turn was confusing. So, like any other normal person, I asked for directions to Mr. Anderson's study.

"Excuse me," I approached a group of young men who were taking a break from their gardening duties. "But where is the study located?"

"Let's see...down this hall, and make a left," One of them answered. "It should be the third door down."

"Alright," I said, turning to leave. "Thanks."

"Can you join us?"

As my widened, they all chuckled. The other men elbowed the one who had spoken out jokingly. I hesitated, holding Katori closer to my body.

"I'm sorry," I said, heading towards the patio door. "But I have to leave..."

"Oh, come on! Please?" he pleaded. I guess didn't notice that I have a child in my arms.

"I'm sorry," I said again, before disappearing behind the glass covered door. Once inside, I exhaled my breath, and Katori looked up at me.

I had almost forgotten myself back there. It scared me, how easy it would have been to go back to the girl I once was; the one who wore cute clothes and makeup, and made eyes at boys. Had I learned nothing? I walked towards the study feeling a little disturbed.

Once I had reached the study, Mr. Anderson's assistance, Lillian, was there to explain my duties for the day.

"Alright, for today, you'll pick the children up from school at three-thirty exactly, and watch them until Jerry gets home at about seven o' clock, which means you make them dinner. Make it healthy, no ordering in. They aren't allowed to have sugar after five thirty, which you shouldn't have to worry about unless Jerry comes home late. Bed time is at eight thirty. Help them with homework if they have any. Entertain them, no swearing, no bad music, if they want to watch television, let them. If they disagree, try and compromise."

Lillian paused to make sure that I was getting all of this. After eyeing Katori for what seemed like the millionth time, she continued, "If you mess up, even a little, if they don't like something that you do, or say, you're out of here. No second chances."

I nodded again, taking a small step backward as she walked pass me. Lillian had then turned on her heel, walked to the door, picking up the brown suitcase next to it, opening the door and slamming it behind her. I winced, before staring at the door puzzled. Why did she seem to be in a pissy mood? I shrugged it off, walked with Katori back into the kitchen to sit my purse down when I realized something...what the hell was I supposed to do until three-thirty?

I had three and half hours to spare, so from the kitchen, I got up and started exploring the house. All that was on the ground floor was the kitchen, living room, the study, and a few other rooms. I didn't really want to go down to the cellar, though. There were two bathrooms upstairs. I walked toward the first one, reaching for its golden handle. I suddenly paused, my hand hovering above the doorknob. I don't know why, but for some reason I felt as though it was the right thing just to stop. I'm not sure why, but that's just the way I felt. However, the pause wasn't for long, because before I knew it, I had turned the knob and opened the door.

Now standing in the middle of the washroom, I looked around, an astonished expression on my face. I looked as if I didn't know how I got there, as though all my memories had been wiped out and I didn't even understand the world anymore. Within the next few seconds, I was quickly brought back to reality and got a chance to fully examine the rather large washroom.

In front of me, a few yards away, there was a sink. It was white, with golden knobs. The basin of the sink however, was spotless, as though it was brand new. The faucets were clean, and I could make out a somewhat slanted reflection of Katori and myself by looking into it. I walked over to it and reached out and grabbed the handle to turned it—water suddenly pouring down. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the sink; it was in perfect working condition.

Above the sink was a mirror, of course. Like the sink, it was perfectly spotless, as if it had just been cleaned. I stared into the sink at my reflection. The teenaged girl that stared back at me appeared to be tired with a child in her arms. Her topaz eyes were lifeless and dull, and her sun dress was slightly wrinkled and colored violet. She didn't look like the person I knew three years ago. The person I knew always looked stylish and always looking to flirt. The person I knew, the person I used to perhaps, the person I _convinced_ myself I was.

Not wanting to think about the subject any longer, I stopped the flow of water and turned to face the bathtub—spotless yet again. Beside the bathtub was a toilet, also perfectly clean in every way. I finally then noticed, to the left of the toilet, was a window. As usual, the sunrays were warming, and felt great up until a certain point. Just outside the window, there was a field of sunflowers, with their large heads pointed upwards. I looked down, and it was two-story drop, but the breeze was pleasant.

Closing the window, and then the door behind me, I left the restroom to explore the second floor a little more. Since the children weren't home, so I walked upstairs to glance at their bedrooms. The first room was that of two young girls. The white and lavender theme of the room, as well as the posters of fairies and female magicians was a dead giveaway. The girls had two single-sized beds covered in lavender lace, a large white wardrobe and dresser with golden handles, a vanity with two small stools, an entire mountain of stuffed animal toys, and carpet that was soft, white, and virtually spotless. There were even silver butterflies hanging from the ceiling.

Next to it was a room that belonged to a pair of boys. Their room composed of a red and black theme, with posters of Transformers on the wall. Inside, there was a black dresser and wardrobe with red handles, a self-full of action figures, a game system, and two beds. While one side seemed a little out of order, the other side was spotless with each and every nook and cranny in place.

Down the hall was the bathroom, the master bedroom, and two other rooms with closed doors. Still bored out of my wits, and plenty of time to spare, I figured I should keep myself entertained and check them out. I was about halfway down the hall when I noticed a small black figure walking towards me. Once I was close enough, I realized it was an animal, a cat to be more persisted. I froze—cats are my least favorite of all animals. That and I have to live next to a maniac who hoards them, and are always finding a way into my apartment.

The feline stopped as well, noticing Katori and I. From its collar hung a small crimson colored gem and I figured the cat must belong to someone in the house. Growing tired of situation, the cat ignored me and strolled into one of the nearby room. I was curious to see what the feline was up to, and peered into the room in which it had entered. Meowing, the cat pawed at the figure curled in the bed sheets. The figure moved slightly, and shifted to left where I could make out the features of a person. I flinched slightly, realizing that I was peering into the room of boy who offered me the nanny position. I finally leaned in closer, deciding this was my chance to examine him thoroughly.

I allowed my eyes to trail downward, toward his face. I studied his facial features carefully, memorizing every detail and storing the image into the back of my head like a camera. I stared, my gaze hawk-like. It was as though I was trying to send him a subliminal message for him to wake up. Truthfully I wasn't really the kind of person that believed in such garbage, but I couldn't help but give it a try. I experimented for a few minutes.

Would he wake up if I continued to gawk at him with unflinching intensity? Or, would he not get my subliminal message to wake from his slumber? It was almost as though I was challenging myself. And I knew that was exactly what I was doing—I was challenging myself to pull off a ridiculous trick.

Suddenly, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and his eyebrows knitted together. He began to shift slightly, and he turned his head to the right. He was slowly waking up. Perhaps he had received my message. I beamed for a few minutes, happy that I had someone to talk to and because I had won my challenge against myself. He slowly sat upright, stretching his arms into the air. His chest was bare, which I noticed with an unreasonable feeling of shock. But of course, I wanted to get on Lillian's good-side, and gawking at her boss's son wasn't smartest way to start.

In my arms, Katori shifted impatiently.

"Shh Katori," I whispered to him, not wanting to be noticed.

Adjusting him in a comforting position, I walked down the stairs and decided to sit in the kitchen for a while. The first thing that I noticed was the coffee machine. I started it up, pulled up a stood, and opened a magazine. After handing Katori a few of his toys and his Sippy-cup, I sat casually in the stool, listening the clock tick away, just letting the time pass me by. I didn't care. I swung my left leg over my right, crossing my legs and swinging my left leg in time with the clock's every tick. I hummed a little tune and smiled a little bit, nodding my head as well. The clock just continued to tick and tick.

_Tick... tick... tick..._

Katori reacted surprisingly well to this new change of state. He watched in fascination as the maids and gardeners came in and out, and after a while, many of the other maids began commenting on how adorable he was. Soon afterward, I wasn't the only one who was constantly checking up on him.

"He's so cute," I flinched a little from the sound of another human voice. It was that of a female. She had light blond hair and brown eyes.

"How do keep him so quiet and well-behaved?" she asked pouring some coffee into a cup.

I had to chuckle at this. "Trust me. He's anything but quiet."

"Really?" she peered down at Katori. "How old is he?"

"A little over six months now," I answered, turning a page of the magazine.

"As of now, he may seem quiet, but just wait—four months from now he'll become even noisier. Throwing tantrums and making messes..." she trailed off a bit stirring sugar in coffee.

I blinked at her, unsure what to think.

"You don't say?" I tried to sound as casual as I could.

"Definitely," The girl replied enthusiastically, passing me a cup. "Jesse and I have four younger siblings. It was horrible. All they did was throw tantrums at his age."

"I see..." I said as she took a seat across from me.

It was strange when I thought about it. This girl was clearly younger than me, but somehow she knew more about small children than I did, and I'm the one who's the mother. We chatted a little longer, and I found out that her name was Sabrina. Within the next ten minutes, I was joined the teal haired stranger who I presumed was Jesse. Before heading into the kitchen, he stopped to check his appearance in the mirror that hung above a vase. He ran a hand through his hair, and then smiled in satisfaction. I must admit; he has the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen. I was glad that he didn't notice me smiling; otherwise I'm sure I would've blushed—turned into a tomato right in front of him. Jesse walked into the kitchen, and was grinning at me. I tried in vain not to blush. He was _good looking. _I smiled slightly.

"Ready?" he asked Sabrina, the car keys in his hands jingling.

"Yeah," Sabrina nodded, and reached for her tote bag by her stool. After giving me a small wave, she left the kitchen and headed towards the front door.

Jesse was about to leave until the cat from strolled into the kitchen and rubbed against his leg. He kneeled down and scratched the feline's head.

"Behave, Ruby," he said. "She's a guest here."

The feline now known as Ruby just purred with affection until Jesse left. Ruby had then looked at me with her bright yellows, and I just smirked at this, reaching for the creamer across the counter.

"You heard him," I said. "Behave yourself."

Ruby must have taken this as a sign to show me who exactly was in charge. Before my hand could reach the creamer, she jumped onto the counter (startling me in the process), and then knocking the bottle down with her paw. I glared at her as she began to lap up the dairy product that had spilt onto the floor.

"You think you're so smart don't you?" I reached for the nearest towel, and started to clean the mess.

The next two hours just flew by. And soon it was time to leave to pick the children up. I found this to be a problem because one; I didn't know what school they went to, and Lillian didn't leave any contact numbers. _Bitch_. There was an elementary nearby, and I always kept my cell phone handy, so I found a phone book and dialing the number of the school.

"Hello, Domino Elementary, how may I help you?" The perky voice of the receptionist inquired.

"Hey Alexis," I paused for a moment as she answered with an excited hello back. "I really need to talk to you."

"Oh, sure. What's the matter?" she asked.

"Well, I'm supposed to pick the kids up from school in about..." I checked the microwave clock. "Twenty-five minutes, and Lillian didn't tell me where they actually _go_ to school. I wanted to know if you know any schools nearby here."

There was a small thump, and I knew Alexis had dropped the phone. There was fumbling for a second before asked, "She didn't tell you where to pick them up? Oh for God's sake!"

There was muttering on the other end before she sighed, "Well, this school is the only school I know of that is nearby, and we do have a kindergarten class...what's their last names? I'll have someone see if they go here."

I told her their last names, and listened as Alexis told somebody in the class to go to the kindergarten classroom to see if they had any children with the last name Anderson there. A few minutes passed in silence. Then there was whispering, and then Alexis spoke into the phone.

"Okay," she said. "There are four students here that matched. They'll be out of class in just a few minutes, so get here quick."

I smiled. "Thanks," I responded. "I'll be there in about ten minutes."

It took me no more than seven minutes to get to the school. This meant that I had three minutes to find the classroom (the phone call took five minutes). I was lucky that the school had Alexis for a receptionist. Alexis looked up from the papers she was sorting when the bell on the door rang. A smile stretched her lips instantly. "Katrina! How are you?"

I grinned approaching her desk, "Nothing much has changed since ten minutes ago, but thanks for asking. Can you help me; I need to know where the kindergarten classroom is."

She nodded, and pointed to the left, "Just go out into the hall and to the left. Its room three, it's got a bunch of cute paintings all over the door and everything, you can't miss it."

I nodded, "Thanks," I said again, and hurried out into the hall and to the left.

Soon enough classroom three was right in front of me. I moved to open the door, fingers hovering over the handle as I jumped a little when the bell rang. Immediately, the pint-sized children emerged from their classroom, and I stepped to the side to avoid them. After, I was able to enter the class. Looking around, I spotted the only four children left, sitting at their desks next to each other. There was a woman sitting at the teacher's desk, with short light brown hair and laughing doe brown eyes. Obviously she was the teacher, and obviously a very cheerful woman, suited greatly for kindergarten teaching. When I arrived, the kids knew who I was instantly, so I figured that Alexis had alerted their teacher.

Jace's face immediately broke into a bright smile, "Lillian let you be our nanny?"

"That's right," I nodded, grinning as well.

"Alright! Now we can go home!" he replied grabbed his bag.

The girls, Cassidy and Lenna were smiling as well, grabbing their bags. The only child left was Selim. He was sitting huddled in a chair of his own, with his nose in a book, titled the very Hungry Caterpillar, eyes shyly peeking at me through his teal-colored bangs. I slowly walked up to the 'extremely' shy boy, and to a seat next to his chair, and he quietly stared back at me.

"Are you ready to go home?" I paused as Selim shifted in his seat a bit.

As he looked at his feet, I spoke again. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you and your siblings trust me. And if you don't like me, you can tell your daddy, and he'll make sure I don't ever come within one hundred feet of you ever again, alright?"

A few minutes passed in silence, but then Selim got up, picked up his book and his backpack, and slung the straps over his shoulders. Then he held out his hand to me, with his head bowed. I smiled, standing up and taking his small hand. As we left from the classroom, Lenna walked at my side as Jace and Cassidy ran out first, but not before saying goodbye to their teacher.

Jace sat in the front while the girls and Selim were in the back. At first, everything was calm. However, as soon as I pulled the car from the school grounds, the kids (minus Selim) started bombarded me with random questions.

"How old are you?"

"Is your color really silver?"

"Why do you need this job, anyway?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Why do you have a baby with you?"

"Are you really a man?"

And so on...

As soon as I reached a light, I sighed. "Okay, first of all, I'm nineteen, yes my hair is silver, I'm running low on money, green, I made stupid mistakes during the earlier years of my life, and no, I'm a woman. Any more questions?"

The others just gaped, as I pulled onto the next street. Selim on the other hand had a question of his own, and whispered something. I didn't quite catch what he said, so I asked him, "What was that?"

His head shifted a little. "Why do you want to watch us...?"

Catching her meaning, I said put on a fake smile and said, "Because I knew the four would be awesome kids. And you'd be great at Hide and Seek, and Tag, and I was hoping maybe you'd even help me bake some cookies. Would you like that?"

Selim nodded slowly, a small smile creeping onto his lips.

Within the next ten minutes, we arrived back at the villa. I opened the door and went inside (I didn't have a key yet, so I couldn't lock the door), and the children followed. I set Katori down and looked around for a bit. I looked down at the kids, who in turn stared back up at him expectantly.

"So, what should we do now?" I asked them.

The children looked at each other, and then back at me. Cassidy tapped her chin, looking thoughtful. "Well…I think we should play a game."

"Like what?"

Selim spoke up this time; "How about Simon Says...?" he spoke quietly.

"Okay," I nodded, "Do you want to be Simon?"

Selim quickly shook his head, but Jace was jumping up and down, waving his hand in the air, practically yelling, "I wanna be Simon! I wanna be Simon!" at the top of his lungs

I sighed a little. Just where did this child's energy come from?

"Alright, you can be Simon." I said, waiting for Jace to calm down.

"Let's go to the living room and play!" Jace zoomed past us and into the next room.

Cassidy and Selim nodded, followed him. Picking up Katori, I was about to join them when I felt Lenna tug at my dress.

"Is it alright if the baby plays too?" she asked, cutely.

I looked down at Katori, his big brown eyes looking back at me. I wasn't exactly sure of how Katori was going to play, but socializing with other children wasn't going to hurt. So, I smiled down at her, taking her hand into mine.

"Sure, why not."

She smiled and led the way into the large living room.

Once the children were situated, Jace stood in front of them and began, "Simon says… touch your ears." Cassidy, Selim, Lenna, and Katori (with the help of Lenna) did that.

"Simon says… Stop touching your ears. Simon says tap your nose and rub your belly. Simon says tap your nose, rub your belly and jump up and down on one foot. Simon says sing a song."

Jace nearly caught them off guard, but they continued to rub their tummies, tap their noses, and jump up and down on one foot until he shouted, "Stop!"

The children stopped in unison. That is, all except Katori, who had spotted a stuffed duck toy out of the corner of his eye. Just as he went to pick it up, Jace grinned triumphantly and shouted, "Yooouu'rrre outta there!"

Cassidy placed her hands on her hips. "That's not fair, he's just a baby!"

Jace crossed his arms. "So what, those are the rules of the game, and he's out!"

Katori just blinked, and I pulled him into my lap while the children continued they're game. Cassidy eventually lost, and they played five more times, until Jace lost. Then, they all sat down in one tired heap on the opposing couch. By then it was about one o' clock. They still had four hours until they're father got home.

After a few minutes of rest and silence, Jace jumped up, energy restored. "Ok, ok! What do we do now?"

Lenna exhaled slowly, trying to think of something entertaining to do, "Ummm..." she was silent for a minute, and then sighed, closing her eyes, "I got nothing."

"Same here," Cassidy said, sitting down on the couch next to me.

Once again, it was silent, for another moment, before Jace inquired, "Why do you have a tattoo? I thought only tough biker guys did stuff like that."

I peered down at my ankle, where I had a tattoo of a red rose with a skull in the middle. I've had it for more than five years, and it could use a little touching up.

"Well…" I started. "I guess I just felt like doing it. It was a whim."

"Whim...?" Selim's little face scrunched up cutely.

I smiled trying to find the best way to explain it to them. "I woke up one morning and felt just like feeling like getting one. I was walking past this shop in the mall, and thought, it would be nice to get one."

Selim nodded as Cassidy and Lenna traced it with their tiny fingers.

"Do you have anything else like that?" Jace asked eagerly.

Sitting Katori aside for a few second, I pulled down the sleeve of my dress, so that my shoulder was showing. Here, I had a tattoo of three floating hearts, each different in size.

Lenna eyed it curiously with her emerald colored eyes. "Did it hurt?" she asked.

"A little," I answered. "But how we find something else to do?"

Jace bounced up and down on the sofa excitedly waving his arms. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know! Let's play Marco Polo!"

I blinked, "Uh… I think that only works when you're in a swimming pool."

"Nuh-uh! It's easy! It's really fun, promise!" Jace retaliated. "Look, I'll even go first!"

I hesitated, looking around briefly. The Andersons had plenty of valuable things could be destroyed during this game, especially the little glass figurines.

"How about playing a board game instead?" I said quickly, reaching for one of the boxes stacked in the corner, handing it to Jace.

He smiled, sitting the box down on the coffee table.

"I get to go first!" Jace announced, reaching for the blue game piece.

They continued this game for a long time. After thirty minutes of games, the children decided to sit down to watch television, while I got dinner started for them. Sitting Katori down, I peered into the refrigerator at the variety of choices. I was horrible at cooking, so I couldn't thank God more for microwavable meals and leftovers.

"Hey!" I called out the kitchen door, "What do you want for dinner?"

"Pizza!" Jace called, nearly drowning out his siblings' call of "Macaroni!", "Spaghetti!", and "Chicken Nuggets!".

I sighed. "I can't make all of those. So we'll have to compromise. How do we decide?" I asked.

Jace grinned, "I'm the oldest, so I should pick first!"

The others frowned, and Lenna said, "Only by twenty minutes. I think we should play Rock Paper Scissors."

I nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a good idea. Whoever wins gets their choice of dinner tonight."

On the first round, Selim won rock over scissors, eliminating Cassidy from the game. On the second round, Lenna won, paper over rock, eliminating Selim this time. One the final round, however, I couldn't tell who had won. Both Jace and Lenna had both cheated.

"Are you sure that's the way the game is played?" I asked them, and the children just looked at me as if I were stupid.

"Of course they are! Lava Hot and Tsunami have always been in the game, where have you been?" Jace shouted.

I sighed. "Alright fine, but who beats who?"

"Well, obviously Hot Lava beats Tsunami! It's so hot!" Jace said.

Lenna shook her head, "I don't think so, tsunamis bring water, and water put out hot things."

"No way! Hot La-" I covered Jace's mouth with my hand, tired of the bickering.

I wanted to yell, but instead, kept my mouth shut, deciding to be mature. Maturity had to be the key to success in this job. I decided that there was no point in arguing against the children, because I didn't want to loss this job and plus, it wasn't doing well for my pounding headache that I now had to deal with.

A vein pulsed violently in my temple, and I took my index and middle finger and screwed them into the sides of my head, trying to ward off the oncoming migraine. No matter my efforts, I still ended up getting that annoying, infuriating migraine. I cursed as silently as I could and then took out my pills, pushing them into my mouth and forcing them down my throat, closing my eyes. This wasn't working. I needed something to do; anything!

The children looked at me, and as I looked around for an answer myself. And suddenly, I felt Katori tug at my dress with his small hands. I smiled, crouching down to his level. Katori was going to decide who the winner of the game was once and for all.

"Okay, Katori," I said to him. "You have to decide who wins the game. Crawl over to whoever you want."

"Choose me! Choose me!" Jace shouted, waving his arms and jumping up and down. And then he held up a toy truck. "Look, I even have a truck for you."

"Trucks are stupid," After sticking her tongue out at Jace, Lenna merely smiled at my son offering one of her stuffed animals. "I'm sure you'll like my stuffed Domo toy better."

I watched as Katori looked from the truck to Domo a couple of times unsure of what do. I gave him a little nudge.

"Go ahead," I said. "It's your choice."

At first, Katori crawled over to Jace, who stuck out his tongue at Lenna thinking he had won. However, Katori wasn't choosing Jace, but instead, handed him the duck, freeing his hands. Scratching his head, Jace watched as Katori crawled over to Lenna and received the Domo toy from her.

I smiled. "Well, looks like it's settled. We're having Spaghetti."

Jace pouted, but eventually got over it as he sat down with his siblings and watched more television as I prepared dinner for the night.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I have to admit, that I had fun writing this chapter. As said before, within this chapter, I got permission from a fellow reader who goes by CyberChick135 to use some of her OCs for this story, which include Jerry, Sabrina, Cassidy, and Lenna. I'm not really taking OC submissions for this story, but I am currently taking them for my GX crossover Toriyama Academy, and my other Pokémon crossover called Pokequest.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll try and get more Jesse/Katrina moments in the chapter. I've also found a picture similar to Katrina's appearance. You can check it out on my profile by clicking her name. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays. ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

_~ Chapter Three: In which Katrina and Jesse share an awkward moment. ~_

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People need a drive in life. They need something to aspire toward; otherwise they will stay in one place. They will be "stalled" as my father sometimes says. Did I have something to aspire toward, or, in one word, an aspiration? Did I have a "drive" in life? The more I thought about it, the more I realize it was one of the many things that my life was lacking.

It was something missing—a missing piece of the puzzle which was my life. There were many missing pieces, and this was only one. There were still others that I have yet to find. Other pieces that I may not even know exist. My life was lacking in so many ways and I had not a clue how I was going to find the absent pieces of the puzzle. And when I do find all of them, how will I put them together?

"Daddy!"

Jerry and Lillian arrived home about ten minutes late. They found the door unlocked, which I'm sure was one point off my pro list. However, that point was added on when Jerry found his children in the kitchen, happily eating dinner. Leena immediately jumped from her seat, ran over and hugged her father fiercely. The others soon joined her.

Jerry kissed each of their foreheads, "Hey, how was your day?"

Jace gasped, letting go of him to jump around in excitement, "It was great! Well, not the school part, but when we came home we had a lot of fun!"

Lillian blinked and I smirked; maybe being a nanny wasn't so bad after all. "Really?" she asked.

Jace paused in his jumping around, gulping in long breaths, "Yeah! Yeah! We played games, and rode in her car, and played, and played, and played…!"

Jerry paused for moment before asking, "…Did you do anything else?"

Salem lifted his head from his father's pant leg, "We talked to her," he whispered.

"Talked?"

He nodded his head, "We asked her questions, and she answered all of them." He paused, looking up at the ceiling before shifting his eyes back to me, "Daddy, can we keep her?"

"Yeah! Yeah! We like her!" Jace had gone back to bouncing around as if he had eaten ten pounds of sugar. I could tell that his father hoped that wasn't the case.

Jerry sighed, he was still reluctant, but he knew I had obviously done my job, and his kids weren't hurt, so… "I don't see why not," he said with a tired smile.

Salem's face lit up and he buried his face into his father's leg again and squeezed it, his version of a hug. Jace, if possible, got even more hyper, and Leena and Cassidy danced happily.

"So…I got the job?" I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

Jerry nodded, "You got the job."

_Perfect_. As much as I wanted to, I had to resist the urge of dancing with the children, and got back to work. I left about six-thirty, due to having to clean up the spaghetti mess, and the children wanting and I to stay over night.

Jace gripped my leg tighter as I stood unsteadily on my other foot and tried to shake him, as well as Cassidy and Leena off (Salem had long ago been pried off by his father).

"Noooo!" Jace whined, his words bumping as my shook his leg, "Yoooouuu stttaaayyy hhheeerrrreeee!"

I placed my foot on the ground, panting a little. Of course Katori couldn't, so I looked to Lillian for help, but found none. She looked extremely amused, with a hint of annoyance as well. I narrowed my eyes at her as walked towards the door.

_Bitch_.

And that was how it went. I started going over to Anderson's villa every morning and then wandered back to my own place later in the afternoon. At first, it wasn't really all as troublesome as I had expected it to be. The children were not only a surprisingly easy to take care of, but also seemed intent on being friends with Katori. The days went by fast and suddenly I looked at the calendar and realized that I had been working for Jerry for two weeks. It wasn't my ideal job, but it could've been worse. I was content to say the least.

The same could not be said almost a month later. I looked into the mirror at myself; it was as if I had been hit by a car. I had suddenly lost a lot of weight, my headaches became worse, and there were even dark circles under my eyes. I came back every evening pale and exhausted. Of course I knew that my recently acquired job was the cause of it all, though it was worth it. There were nicer toys for Katori, better food, ceramic dishes and vases, a new television, soft comforters, and modern furniture. During her visit, my mother also noticed that I seemed to be settling in more; none of my clothes or belongings was in boxes anymore and there were picture frames on one of the empty bookshelves. There was an old photograph of a younger Katori, and then one of Alexis, Atticus and I. The weirdest thing about the photo was that I was wearing clothes that were really…quite slutty. It totally contrasted with the knee length dresses I wore now.

On October first, the inevitable happened. At quarter to six, Jesse heard the lock on the door click and saw the door open. Running past him, but without greeting him, were his four younger siblings, and of course, myself carrying Katori. Jesse opened his mouth to speak, but closed it at the sight of my face. I was slightly green and closed the door slowly; as if I were to go any faster I would break.

"I think," I said, breathing long and heavily, "I'm at my limit."

"Are you oka-" Jesse started to ask.

I slid down the door and Jesse had to catch me before I hit the floor.

"Okay," Jesse said, starting to panic, "I'm going to call-"

"I'm fine," I said, my eyes still closed, "I just need to sit…for a second or two…"

He put his hand on my forehead. I didn't have a fever, but I was obviously in no condition to do anything except sleep for the rest of the evening.

He pulled me up by my left arm, "Can you walk?"

I swayed and he took this as an emphatic _no_.

He walked me to the kitchen table where I fell into a chair.

"God…" I sighed, sitting Katori on the floor with his toys and my tote bag. "I'm such a wreck."

"No kidding," Jesse said playfully, fixing me a glass of water, "You're going to kill yourself if you keep this up."

"Yeah…" I gave a shudder and then finally opened my eyes.

"Drink this," he said and handing the glass of water to me.

I raised my right hand feebly and Jesse saw immediately that I wouldn't be able to hold the glass and held the glass up to my lips.

"By the way…how many hours did you sleep last night? Or the past week?"

I didn't answer even after I had finished drinking and he frowned, shaking me a little.

"I don't know. Three, four hours, maybe…" In between being caring care of Katori, cleaning my apartment, and of course the constant ringing of the ambulances, there was just no time to sleep.

"And the whole week?"

I didn't answer him.

"That's not healthy you know," he commented.

"You don't have to pretend that you care, you know," I said, sounding offended. Or at least as offended as a person barely conscious could sound.

"But I do," he replied, and I snorted and shook a little.

"You haven't been eating much, have you?" Jesse asked disapprovingly.

"How the hell do you know all these things anyway?" I murmured softly.

"Paramedic Clinical is my major courses," Jesse said, opening the fridge, "That, and I can tell when you haven't eaten anything. Now what do you want?"

"I'm not hungry," I said weakly, "I just…want to sleep."

"You should eat anyway," Jesse said, looking through the contents of the refrigerator.

"If I eat anything, I think I'm going to throw up."

Jesse frowned and closed the fridge.

I groaned and fell silent. For a few minutes, I'm sure Jesse had thought I had fallen asleep, but then I spoke again.

"You know what I miss?" I said so softly that he almost didn't hear me.

"Yeah?" He cocked his head to side, smiling sadly.

"Watermelon. I used to…use to eat it all the time in the summer, you know." I gave a snort. "Now I can't even afford it."

Jesse had no idea what to say to this.

"I was such a stupid kid…" I exhaled loudly. "Did I ever tell you why I took the job offer?"

The correct answer was no, but Jesse knew that if he said that I'd tell him anyway. It wasn't that he wasn't curious, but more of the fact that I was sick and might regret telling him later. He understood secrecy and the need for certain subjects never to be mentioned.

"Listen, you don't have to-"

"My mother had me when they were still in high school. My father didn't want anything to do with my mother, and when I was three years old, she got married for the first time. Married to the same that abandoned her during her pregnancy." I talked in a strange, flat tone, "I never really liked him, but they seemed to like each other. Soon afterwards, my mother needed some space and went to stay with grandparents for a while. My father was technically my guardian, but he was always busy with his stupid job. I got into a bad crowd and there was no one at home to tell me no." I gave a weak laugh, "Rest is history…got pregnant at the desirable age of eighteen. Somehow, I managed to hide it until the middle of the summer." I opened an eye and looked blearily up at him.

"Oh, okay," Jesse said, trying not to blush, because somewhere in the monologue my dress got hiked up a _bit _too far.

I looked at him curiously for a few seconds and he looked at me. He was staring straight into my eyes, and I felt something drop. I don't know what it was, but it felt like my heart dropped and traveled through my digestive system and was slowly getting burned with the acid liquid from my stomach. My stomach twisted, and my heart, which currently felt as though it was traveling through my digestive system, was beating faster than it ever had—or ever should.

"Sorry," I mumbled, straightening my dress. It was here that I decided not to drag the conversation on. Instead, I decided to use the few, valuable moments of temporary silence to do some thinking.

Thinking that was greatly required if I wanted to satisfy Mr. Anderson by keeping his children happy. I tried to think of something to think about, but I couldn't think of anything to think about. That barely made sense, but to me it did. I had nothing to think about, so what would I think about?

There was always Jesse. I averted my gaze to the ground, preferring not to meet his gaze once more and embarrass myself like I had just a second ago. Well, I guess that Jesse wasn't that bad. He had been talking with me a lot. Even if I did most of the talking. I don't think I've ever talked to a guy as much as I had with him. But it was strictly business! There was not another reason that I talked to him so much. Well, I guess there was. He always greeted me in the morning and we'd sit and talk until he left for school. I guess that I didn't mind too much. It gave me something else to do besides sit there and pretend I'm not bored.

Being bored was something that I was greatly used to. It was almost part of me. Pretending to not be bored was something that I did on a regular basis. Every day, I would be completely and utterly bored with every activity that I thought about. So, I'd just pretend I wasn't bored and did things that really weren't enjoyable, but they were things that'd benefit me in the future.

I would usually flip through history books. Eventually, my parents had taken the hint that I was bored and offered to request errands for me, but I insisted that I was having a lovely time studying music's history. I was shocked when they believed me. But, my parents don't even know my favorite color, so it wasn't as surprising as it _should've _been.

Being someone who pretended to not be bored, I rarely got the thrill of surprises. In my entire life, I'm sure that the most surprising thing that happened to me was my first crush. My first crush was a subject that comforted me whenever I thought about it. It was a time in life where I wasn't bored. Where I didn't need to mask anything. I vaguely remembered admitting that I liked him during spring, and I remember him hugging me. I remember how my friends had been happy for me, and how they congratulated me. We stopped liking each other when we were thirteen. And even though we had liked each other, we never had been boyfriend and girlfriend.

And, since Katori's arrival, I've never had a crush on anyone again. I've been a lone wolf since. I can't say that I haven't taken the time to appreciate a guy's looks every once and a while. I was just not searching for the moment. I was just waiting for the right time. But, I was nineteen already, and I haven't even found someone. I wasn't getting any younger, but I just didn't want to get into that sort of thing right now. It was just that…well, I had resigned herself to a single life, at least until Katori was older and we were more financially stable. But sometimes, I wished that there was someone for me. Which was stupid, considering that all the men I had ever gotten involved with were sleazy assholes, which could care less about me anyway.

Deciding that it was too pitiful to just stare at the floor, I decided to stare at my hands. On my left hand, there was a band aid on my thumb. I had cut myself while chopping vegetables for the children's dinner. On my right index finger, there was a scab from a paper cut.

No matter what I stared at, however, Jesse just kept coming back into my mind. I was tempted to slap him and demand that he got out of my head, but if I did that I'd look like a fool, and a psychopath. But still, why couldn't I stop thinking of Jesse? Perhaps it's because he annoys the crap out of me. Either that or I'm running out of stress pills.

At that moment, when Jesse had his back turned, I grunted, popping two more pills into my mouth and swallowing forcefully.

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Later that evening, Katori and I returned home. Instead going straight to bed, I made dinner in our newly furnished apartment.

I scoffed, angrily eating my curry. I must've looked like I hadn't eaten in months. I quickly finished my food, and then took the dishes to the sink. Once I had completed that task, I sat down at the table with Katori and then let out a large breath.

I glanced at the clock. Seven o'clock pm. What had I been doing lately? I don't have any structure in my life anymore. Should I begin dividing my days here into units like I had in my normal life? Well, if so, what would my activities be? Watching Jesse and Sabrina's younger siblings? That would take up the whole day, so, that would mean forty-eight units watching the children.

I shivered at the thought. What had I been thinking about this morning? Oh that's right, an aspiration. People need an aspiration to keep them going. A "drive" in life. It was something that I was lacking. An aspiration is an essential in life, and is greatly required. It's actually one of the most the most important things in life. And that was one of the things that my life was lacking.

What else was I lacking, other than an aspiration? I was lacking… hobbies. I was lacking talents, things that I was good at. What would a person like me be good at anyway? I remember my dad once saying that I had a reason for everything, so perhaps a social worker? No, I hate dealing with people. What does that have to do with what I was thinking about this morning?

This morning, I was also thinking about how life was like a puzzle, with many pieces. That's right, and an aspiration was just one of the many pieces. I knew that my puzzle had yet to be completed. I didn't even know how many pieces there were in my puzzle, and how many I was missing. I didn't even know the existing pieces that I already had, and I didn't know how to fit them together to create the image that my puzzle was meant to be.

But that's how life is: So confusing and complex, just something that no human being can truly understand unless they've lived their entire life, from beginning to end. From cover to cover. So, was I saying that I won't understand life until I've completed it? Well, that doesn't sound dandy at all. I'll have to die in order to truly understand the meaning of my life. And dying was not something that I planned to do anytime soon.

Katori dug in eagerly to his share of rice and curry, making soft sounds of delight. I smiled faintly and scrubbed his cheeks and hands clean afterwards.

"Such a dirty child," I muttered fondly and gave him a bath in the kitchen sink, despite his loud protests.

After his bath, I dressed Katori in his pajamas, and then put him to bed. I gradually headed to my own room when my phone rang.

"Katrina! So is it true? Lexi tells me you found an apartment." The oh-so familiar, and not to mention cheerful voice of Atticus said from the other end.

"Yeah, though it'll probably take me years to get everything fixed up properly," I replied, absentmindedly rubbing the dusty floor with my fingers, "So far, I've only managed to get the living room and kitchen looking decent."

I heard Atticus sigh at the other end, "Are you sure you don't need any help?" he asked hesitantly, "I mean, I would be happy to send you something, if you-"

"I'm fine," I said, "Really, Atticus. I just have to find a job and I'll be okay. This apartment is cheaper than I calculated for, so I might even have extra money."

He snorted, and I almost smiled.

"How about, Katori?" he asked next, "Is he…?"

"No," I said, tiredly, "He makes small attempts, but hasn't walked just yet."

It was a subject that plagued me constantly.

"I'm sure it's all right," Atticus assured me, "Maybe he's just a late bloomer."

"He should be walking by now," I muttered, more to myself than anything, "Should have been walking months ago."

"But you said he makes attempts, right?" Atticus said, "That's a good sign, eh?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to be optimistic, "It is."

There was a pause and I opened my mouth to say goodbye.

"He's worried about you, you know," Atticus said quietly.

"Atticus, I don't want to talk about thi-"

"Katrina, he'll find out eventually! What's the point of prolonging it?"

"He wouldn't be worried, if he knew," I said angrily, causing Katori to look up quizzically at me, "He'd be ashamed of me," I let out a laugh, "More ashamed of me, really, though that hardly seems possible."

"You know that's not true," Atticus replied, "He's your _father_, why would-"

I snorted, "Why should he care?"

"Katrina, if you don't tell him about your-"

"Don't you dare!" I hissed, tensing up, "Promised me…promise me that you won't say a word!"

"Fine," he said, cutting me off, "I won't tell him! I was going to say that you're going to make things harder than they already are!"

"Oh, joy," I said mockingly, "That's just what I need."

"Katrina…" he said exasperatedly.

"Atticus, it's no good," I said, "I've always been too wild for him. You know how he is. He's already furious enough knowing that I've had pre-martial sex, much less had a child out of wedlock. I've told you this before, Atticus," I said almost sadly, "I don't even know who Katori's father _is_. There's no way I can face him."

"He's not that bad! Give him a chance for once. I'm sure he'll forgive you eventua-"

"Bullshit."

"Katrina…"

"Look, Atticus, I need to go," I said coldly, "I have to get up tomorrow morning after all."

"Wait, Katri-"

And with that, I hung up my phone, laid down in my bed, and went to sleep.

**TBC...**

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><p><strong>AN:** Please excuse the shortness. (:

It was difficult updating this, I have to admit, but I feel that it was worth it. I missed writing about this story dearly, and I just want to say thank you so much for those who have taken the time to leave reviews and urge me to update. You are the ones that give me the confidence to write OC stories at all!

Oh, and if you haven't checked out my newest story (Nothing Short of a Miracle) I'd appreciate if you did and of course left a me a comment of some sort.


	4. Chapter 4

**I know I keep thinking about another chapter for my Zane/OC story... but I write when I'm inspired and I'm not really inspired to write that story at the moment. I'm chugging though the chapter, but it sometimes feels forced, so I stopped for a while...which then drags on because I'm a lazy ass who loves procrastinating a little too much... :I**

**Any who, I've picked up inspiration for this lovely story, so enjoy this new chapter!**

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><p><em><strong>Fairyride<strong>_

_o_

_o_

_o_

_**Chapter Four: **__In which there is apology and plans for the future._

_o_

_o_

_o_

The next morning, I called Atticus back to apologize. I was being a stubborn fool and it wouldn't be wise to alienate one of the only friends I had.

"Katrina…?" he began hesitantly.

"I'm sorry," I began, "I shouldn't have hung up on you. I was just mad and…I took it out on you…"

"Its fine," he said, "I shouldn't have provoked you, I guess."

I gave a small laugh, "I feel so stupid."

"How is everything?" he asked seriously, and almost sadly.

"I'm okay," I answered only a bit untruthfully, "Just…tired, really."

"That reminds me," Atticus said, "I got a lot of stuff of yours in the mail. Most of its…well, bills…"

"Oh, could you send them over, then?" I asked, "My address is-"

"Look, Katrina, why don't you let me pay them for you?"

"Huh? No, I couldn't possibly ask you to-"

"No, really— it's gift, for your birthday or something?"

"My birthday was in February. It's almost July…"

"I didn't get you a present, now did I?"

"Well, to be fair, I didn't get you a present for your birthday either."

"Just this once," he begged and I gave up at the weakness in his voice.

"Alright," I answered, "Fine. But on the condition, you let me pay you back."

"Oh, come on, that's bull-"

"I pay you back or no deal."

"Fine, fine, you drive a hard bargain, Madame Redbird."

"Don't call me that."

"You know you like it," he teased.

"Atticus," I said softly, sinking down into one of my recently bought chairs, "You know you're more of a parent to me than my own father ever could be, right?"

I heard him swallow on the other end, "Yeah, I know."

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Oh lucky me.

I was already nineteen and a mother at that… God, I practically felt like a granny. During my high school years, I was like every other little girl… I had no plans on getting married, having kids, or anything like that. But now, it's a big deal all of a sudden. All of a sudden, I _**wanted**_ to get married. I just had to. It became a personal mission of mine.

Marriage? Ha! I barely thought about it. I think that I did once before… but not as much as I had been the past year. Ever since I had spotted the Andersons' wedding pictures, I'd been thinking about it a lot. And now that I'm socializing with Jesse, I'll probably be thinking about it more…

An older friend of mine was going to get married sometime in December, which was three months from now and I still wasn't in a stable relationship while all my friends were really starting their lives. I felt as though I was seriously missing out, but I didn't show it. I couldn't show it. I had no time for all that at the moment. My friends were all either in college or working, and they had lots of time to get married and start relationships.

Me? I was too busy taking care of Katori, and trying to provide from him. There simply wasn't time for romance.

But hanging around with Jesse wasn't exactly making it any easier. His emerald eyes were filled with the innocence of a child. His skin was pale, yet healthy. His teal hair was tousled and was falling over his shoulders. And I…I was mesmerized. I couldn't take my eyes away from him, and I just kept gawking at him every chance that I got.

I blushed, embarrassed about my constant gawking. He's my bosses' son, didn't I remember? I mentally kicked myself for looking stupid.

My dreams of getting married became even more vivid, making me want it more_. _I was very thankful that my job as nanny kept me on my toes. That way I could begin to avoid Jesse and then I wouldn't think so much about marriage.

On the subject of marriage, what kind of wedding would I want? Of course it'd be a really small wedding; perhaps during snowfall because it was really pretty…I'd have it outdoors in the snow, wearing a thick, long coat over my wedding dress. My hair would barely be styled… snow would be everywhere with small lanterns hanging from the surrounding buildings…

"Katrina can we have chocolate cake for breakfast?" Cassidy suddenly snapped me from my daydream. She looked up at me as I poured her and Salem a glass of orange juice. The two of them had gotten out of bed on time, so I decided to make breakfast.

I paused before pouring more juice into her cup and turned towards her saying, "I don't think so kiddo. Chocolate cake is for dessert not dinner."

"But Katrina…" Cassidy began to whine.

"No buts, missy. Do you really want to go to school with a stomachache? Or without eating the yummy pancakes Salem help me make?"

I bent down so that I was eye level with her. She pouted cutely, her lower lip sticking out and her eyes pointed towards the floor. Salem chuckled at the sight of his sister as he began to make circles on the floor with the tips of his shoes.

"I guess not," she sighed in surrender.

"Good and for giving the right answer there will be a nice treat in your lunch box tomorrow." I patted the top of her head.

She looked up surprised. "Really…?"

I nodded my head, and then placed a plate of food, which consisted of eggs, bacon, and chocolate-chip pancakes in front of them. "Now, you two sit down and eat while I go and wake up Jace and Leena. And don't forget to keep your voices down, okay?" I whispered the last part, motioning towards Katori's playpen where his sleeping figure lay.

Cassidy nodded and tiptoed back to the table and sat down with her brother.

I shook Leena's shoulder gently, watching her brow furrow while she turned over. Sighing, I shook her shoulder harder. From here, she sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning tiredly.

Rubbing her eyes, she whined, "Katrinaaa! I'm tireeeddd! I don't want go to school today!" And with that, she lay back down and pulled the covers over her head.

I sighed, shaking my head. She did this almost every morning. I pulled the pink covers down to her shoulders, "Well, once we get some food in you, you'll be awake enough to go to school. But first you need to get some clothes on. And you better get up and ready for school quickly, or you won't get chocolate chips in your pancakes."

Hearing that she was immediately up and across the room, looking through her dresser in a heartbeat. While she got dressed, I strolled into the next room where Jace was still sound asleep.

I ripped the comforter off of the bed, and the teal-haired boy that had recently been underneath it groaned and curled into a little human ball. I shook the boy's shoulder a little harder than I did to with Leena. It was the only way to get him up. But Jace growled and stubbornly kept his eyes shut.

I scowled, and whispered into the boy's ear, "If you don't get up and get ready now, I won't put chocolate chips in your pancakes."

Like his sister, he was up and searching in his dresser for clothes in a second.

I smirked; kids would do anything for chocolate chips.

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By beginning of July, I realized something; Jesse was a strange fellow.

He constantly used medical terms and was always saying things were unhygienic or unhealthy. He even threw out the sponges after Leena and I had washed the dishes saying that they could become "full of germs" and "breeding grounds" if we weren't careful.

The strangest thing was that he didn't seem to mind watching after Katori during his break while I went to pick up his siblings from school. He read gaming magazines some of the time, but otherwise seemed perfectly happy to amuse Katori. And maybe it was only because it had been so long since I had talked to anyone face to face, but I couldn't help but like him.

At times, he would talk about his friends and school, but from what I gathered he was moderately close to them. A few were annoying, he said, and others had their own things going on. He didn't have a girlfriend, though once, he had mentioned a girl. A friend who liked him, but he said it made things a little awkward.

There wasn't much dialogue about his family either. He mentioned his father being a medical specialist once in a while, whom he considered a workaholic at times. He had two older sisters that he talked about once or twice, he mentioned that Sabrina was his twin, but he never talked about his mother. I wasn't sure whether it was because she was out of the picture or if she was simply not a noteworthy person.

His life seemed open and uncomplicated. He would hang out with his friends regularly, but wasn't particularly close to his family either. Oddly enough, I found it interesting. Throughout most of life, my friends and of course boys had been my world. Being an only child and ignored by my parents most of the time, they were the only people I had left to turn to. I couldn't help being secretly envious of his apparent indifference of the people around him.

He argued with me to reduce the extra hours (spent playing games and taking the children to the park) that I worked, and I couldn't help wonder why he cared at all. He seemed totally content to help out more than just watching Katori and or just to talk with me. As days went by, I realized that I had been staying until nine or later at the Andersons' household with the children and I couldn't imagine it being any other way.

"Wait, let me get this straight," Atticus said, sounding torn between amusement and annoyance, "This punk has been watching Katori for over a month, and now you spend half your time not working but hanging out with him?"

I frowned, "It sounds weird if you say it like _that_. And what do mean 'hanging out'?"

I was standing in the den and tried not to talk too loudly because Jesse was in the kitchen feeding Ruby.

"Seriously," Atticus sighed, "You should think about being more careful."

I snorted, "Stop worrying. Nothing is going to happen. I bet the guy's never even had a girlfriend before."

"Katrina!"

"It's true. If you want to worry about anyone, worry about me. He's kind of attractive, you know."

"_Katrina!_"

I rolled my eyes, "That was a joke, geeze. Seriously, I'm not going to jump at Mr. Anderson's son."

"Sure," Atticus said, sounding annoyed, "Anyway, what are you going to do after the fall semester starts and he gets busy? You don't have a lot of time, do you? My university starts again in about a month."

"I've saved up a bunch for daycare," I said, "All the money from my old amusement park job I've been saving. I found a pretty cheap one that doesn't look too bad. I've saved enough for at least six months."

"The amusement park job, huh?" he said, "The one that almost worked you to death?"

"_Shut it_," I said exasperatedly, "That was one time! I won't make that mistake again."

"I'm worried about you, okay?" he said and certainly sounded like it, "When was the last time you had a day off? All this stress can't be good for you!"

I knew he was right; I even hadn't had my period for months, but there was no way she was going to agree with him.

"I'm fine, Atticus, I promise," I said, trying to sound sincere, "That time I was just too…optimistic about how many hours I could work. It won't happen again."

"Katrina, why don't you just ask for help? Public assistance programs exist for a reason."

"You know damn well that I can't do that," I growled; we'd been over this many times, "It's already bad enough that I still paying for health insurance fees!"

"Oh come. He's not that bad."

"No. I guarantee if I got a home phone instead of a prepaid one, he'd be at my door within a week!"

"Look, I know you don't want anything to do with him, okay? But at what cost?"

"I can manage fine on my own, really," I said tiredly, "Besides, for insurance I can just lie about my address and have you mail my bills to me. For assistance, they actually have to come and look at my apartment. I don't want him finding out where I am!"

"How long are you going to spend hiding from him? A year, two years?"

"Until Katori is old enough…" I answered. quietly

"When is that? When he goes into first grade? Graduates primary school? Middle school? _High_ school? You're not going to hide for eighteen years now are you?"

"Sixteen and a half," I corrected, "And I was thinking after he graduates middle school."

"Are you serious!?" he asked, sounding horrified, "Katrina, that's thirteen and a half years from now!"

"I knew what I was getting into was I decided to have Katori, Atticus," I said seriously, "Child or not, I had to get away from him."

"I know," he said, sounding wistful, "I remember the time you ran away when you were fourteen. Camped at my place for a few weeks. You always did drive each other crazy."

"Yeah," I said, throat tight.

"Hey, is it alright if Lexi and I come and visit you sometime? We would have come last month, but our busy schedules made it impossible."

I beamed and adjusted the phone, "Sure. Just be sure to call"

"I gotta go now," he said apologetically, "I have a date later tonight."

I snorted, but felt a strange tightening in my chest, "Good luck."

He laughed a little. "I'll call you later, I promise. Bye."

"Bye."

I wasn't jealous. At least like _that_, anyway. It was just that…well, I had resigned myself to a single life, at least until Katori was older and we were more financially stable. But sometimes, I wished that there was someone for me—which was stupid, because all the men I had ever gotten involved with were sleazy douche bags. And again, I didn't have time for a relationship.

Besides. I had Katori, good friends, my job, and a cute boy gawk at, and I couldn't have imagined it any other way.

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><p><strong>During my break, I read over some of the older chapters of this story, and I realized that I love this story too much to let it sit any further without an update. And if you haven't realized it yet, this chapter is leading up to some JesseKatrina interaction.**

**Per usual, feedback would be great. Thank you for reading! ~ Rain**


	5. Chapter 5

**Surprise! This story got a new title! **

**If you are new to this series, you may have noticed that the previous chapters still the older title, Fairyride in them, so I am going to have to go back and edit them when I have time.**

**Anyway, enjoy this very, very late and way overdue update for this series!**

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><p><em><strong>Nanny for Hire<strong>_

…

…

…

_**Chapter Five:**__ In which there is an argument and slip up. _

…

…

…

Just as I hung up my phone, there was a knock at the front door.

"I got it!" Jesse called. I heard the door open and Jesse say, "Er…you are?"

Since Katori was busy with toys within the den, I used this as my opportunity to see just who exactly was at door. I looked up and instantly I felt all the color drain from my face.

Redbird Kito, my father, stood in the doorway.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katori perk up. My father's eyes shifted to my son and stayed there for a few seconds before returning to me.

"Father," I whispered and knew that something was beginning to brew.

"Katrina," My father acknowledged. I looked terrified, Jesse noticed. He flinched as he saw the angry expression on my father's face. Crap. Not good.

"This guy reminds me of the Boogie Man..." I heard Jace whisper to his siblings, who nodded in agreement.

"What's going on here Katrina?" he asked calmly, but I could hear the thinly veiled fury. He ran his eyes over the children and Katori, who was staring up at the newcomer curiously from the floor with his Domo plush in arms.

"Jesse," I breathed. I'm pretty sure I sounded as if I had been punched in the gut. "Will you please take Katori into another room?"

"Uh," he started, not sure if leaving me alone with my furious father was a good idea.

"Now," I said, tightening my jaw.

My father was dressed in his usual work attire and Jesse watched him out of the corner of his eye survey our exchange coolly.

"Right," he said. He pulled Katori up by the hand and guided him out of the room. He half expected my father to stop him, but he merely glanced at him as they walk through the door. There was silence as Jesse walked down the hall. But when he started the yelling between us began. I saw Jesse paused and turned, unsure if he should go back. Our voices weren't distinct and he couldn't tell what we were saying, but my voice had risen to a pitch hardly thought possible.

It must have been at least an hour that we sat there, maybe even two. After a while, Jesse came back carrying a fussy Katori.

"And you are?" My father asked icily with undisguised contempt.

The implication was obvious and Jesse's mouth curled in disgust. "I'm the son of the house's owner." he said.

My father's expression did not change and his eyes bored into Jesse's. Jesse refused to back down and glared right back at him. My father let out a snort, and then turned and walked away. Jesse watched him walk to his car.

After the exchange between my father and I, I felt nauseous. My head was pounding as I stood with my back to the door, my hands on either side of the sink, shoulders hunched.

Jesse sat Katori inside of his playpen gently, and covered him with his blanket. Katori shifted restlessly against the soft fabric, but did not wake.

"Katrina?" he started hesitantly.

"How's Katori?" I asked automatically in a hoarse voice, squeezing the sides of the sink, eyes still closed.

"Oh," Jesse said, "He's still asleep. You've been up here a long time."

A spasm of an unpleasant feeling that I couldn't place traveled through my body, causing me to shudder.

"A-are you alright?" Jesse asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Do I look alright?" I hissed, tensing up. I didn't open my eyes, because if I did, I knew I would cry.

"I'm sorry," I said before he could respond, "I don't know why I said that."

"It's okay," he said and stepped close, "Do you want me to do anything else?"

For some reason, it was that that did it. Later, I would try to dissect my reasoning, coming to the conclusion that it was some subconscious desire for comfort because he was too goddamn nice for his own good, and I was too rotten to not take advantage of that.

So, I opened my eyes and turned abruptly, barely registering the surprised look on his face. And without thinking of the consequences, or of my child being less than a meter away, or anything really; I grabbed his collar, pulled him down and kissed him right on the mouth.

Jesse made a muffled sound of surprise, but I didn't particularly care and closed my eyes, sliding my hands into his teal-colored hair. He lost his balance and stumbled, pressing me right against the sink. I took a breath and then pressed my mouth against his again, pushing myself closer and deeper. Jesse groaned against my mouth, losing the tenseness in his shoulders and letting his hands fall carefully to my shoulders. He didn't really know what he was doing, something that should have amused or annoyed me, but ended up turning me on. I slid my hands down his neck and curled my tongue around his. A strange, greedy, buzzing sensation filled me, wanting more, more, more. I guided his hands clumsily to my waist and took another breath before pressing my lips to his jaw and neck, simultaneously finding the hem of his shirt and pulling it up.

Jesse let out a surprised sort of grunt and jerked back. My eyes snapped open and we starred at each other. My hand slowly came up to cover my mouth and realized that I actually...

"You..." Jesse's face turned beet red. "I...you kissed me..."

I blinked, "I..." I gripped the sink hard and found that I had no idea what to say, "Crap, sorry, I wasn't... I mean I didn't..." I trailed off.

That was one of the most awkward silences of my life.

"I'd had better go..." he said, looking embarrassed and confused.

"Oh..." I said, not really listening to him, my mind repeating a mantra of "What the hell did I just do?"

Then the door shut and he was gone. I paced, gripping the fabric of my dress anxiously.

"Crap," I whispered, "What the hell was I thinki-"

And idea came to me and I lunched for my phone on the table stepped outside.

"Katrina?" Atticus answered, "Look, this is a bad time, can I call you ba-"

"Atticus!" I cried, "I did something so stupid! I don't know what I was thinking! I-"

"Wait, wait! Calm down! What happened? Are you okay?"

"-can't believe it, what an idiot! I just didn't think and then everything was-"

"Katrina! What happened? Start from the beginning!"

"I, first, my father came and then we had a fight and-"

"WHAT?" Atticus yelled, "What is exactly is going on?"

"I kissed my boss's son!"

There was silence at the other end of the line before he responded.

"Wait, what...?"

"There's something wrong with me!" I exclaimed, pacing the length of the kitchen. Katori stirred, "Shit," I whispered, lowering my voice, "Katori's starting to cry."

"Katrina, calm down," Atticus emphasized, "Now, did you really?"

"I'm such a moron," I gritted, "Can I not be friendly with a guy without pouncing him?"

"You never jumped me..."

"Oh, you don't count!"

"Thanks," he replied sarcastically.

I collapsed in the chair that Katori was not occupying. "I'm so stu-"

"Katrina! Calm down! Let me get a word in, okay?"

I groaned in response.

"So," Atticus suddenly sounded reluctant, "That was Jesse wasn't it?"

I rolled my eyes, sighing. "Who else would it be?"

"Okay, okay, I was just asking..." he trailed off.

"Well?" I asked, after a few seconds. "What wisdom can you impart to me, oh great and powerful one?"

"Well," Atticus cleared her throat awkwardly. "He's your boss's son, right?"

"I am well aware of that fact!"

"So it would be kinda weird, if you have…"

I moaned. "No, Atticus, that's not the point! I don't like him like that! That's the problem!"

"Okay,"

"You're not helping!"

"What am I supposed to say?" he asked, starting to sound annoyed. "Seriously, Katrina, if it was just a mistake, then just tell him."

"But," I closed her eyes and slumped, "Atticus, I-I've ruined everything. I mean really Jesse is-was a friend and now it'll be all awkward."

I sighed, "I just wish...first my father and now this!"

"What did he say?" Atticus asked quietly. "Or do you not want to talk about it?"

"What I expected really. The gall of me running away from home and having a kid without telling him."

"You know, that's probably his screwed up way of saying he cares about you," Atticus observed.

"By yelling at me for more than an hour? That's bull crap and you know it! He's never cared. Not really. He just thinks he has an obligation to my mother because he knocked her up in high school."

"What are you going to do?" Atticus asked. "Now that he's found you, move again? That wouldn't be wise."

"I don't know," I mumbled, "I told him I never wanted to see him again, and to leave me alone and get out of my life, but I doubt he'll listen." I gave a weak chuckle. "Thanks for listening to all my shit, Atticus. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"It's fine," he said awkwardly. "I just wish I could do more."

"So how's uni?" I asked tiredly.

"Katrina, look, I'm trying to help, okay?"

"Yeah but I'm just...'m so angry at myself! I bet it was the plane ticket to get to Kyushu. He must have found that, and now Jesse's." I sighed and let my forehead touch the worn tabletop.

"Everything was fine before," I said sadly. "Really. Katori was beginning to walk and it was getting almost fun, you know. I had things to look forward to in the morning. And now-! I can't believe I did that, I feel like such a idiot. I have a child and I can't even keep my hands off my bosses' son!"

"Katrina, it's not as bad as you think," Atticus said, "Everything'll turn out alright, I promise. I mean, it might not be exactly the same as before, but still, everything will be fine."

"Maybe," I muttered. "I dunno…I just feel so disgusted with myself right now."

"Hey, it could've been worse," he said optimistically. "It can always be worse. Think on the bright side for once."

"How exactly could it have been worse?" I asked icily, not at all pleased by his confidence that I supposed was supposed to cheer me up.

"I mean, c'mon, he could've kissed you back or something."

I opened my mouth to reluctantly agree with him, when…

"Er..."

"He didn't, right?"

"Well..."

"_Right_?"

"Actually um..."

"Katrina!"

"Yeah now that I think about it, he sorta did..." I chuckled softly.

Atticus groaned, "Please tell me you're joking."

"No, not really."

"Goddammit, Katrina, I told you hanging around with him was a bad idea!"

I frowned. "Oh, so now this is my fault?"

I heard him groan again. "Wasn't it your fault initially?"

"Stop making sense!"

"Er you don't actually like him, do you?"

"Atticus!" I exclaimed, shocked. "He's my boss's son! I'm not that depraved!"

"Ahem."

"Oh, shut up, maybe I am. But, seriously, even if I did-if- it's probably 'cause he's just nice and innocent and ugh, there are just so many reasons why anything wouldn't work."

"I believe you," he said after a pause. "So let us never speak of this again."

"Agreed,"

After speaking with Atticus, I took a deep breath, got up and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me louder than necessary.

I stood in front of the mirror, at my messy appearance. My hair was messed up, and my clothes were wrinkled. I turned on the tap water and splashed icy water on my face. My face was still slightly pink from the incident. I mean seriously, what the hell was I thinking?

"Um, Katrina…" I heard Salem call out from the other side of the door after drying my hands and face.

It would have been rude of me not to answer, even if I was in a crap mood. "Yes?" I asked sounding as genuine as I could.

"The baby smells like poopie..."

I sighed.

Speaking of crap...

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, how I've missed writing this series. It feels great to be back on track with it! To be honest, I'd forgotten about this story until recently when I decided to do a little cleaning on my flash drive. And that's when I found this chapter that finally gets to see the light of day!<strong>

**Thank you all for reading, stay tune for the next one! - Rain**


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